Roman Polanski to Finish 'The Ghost' From Jail

Screenwriter Robert Harris reveals that the locked-up director wanted to make sure the movie is completed in time for its planned premiere at the Berlin Film Fest. in February 2010.

Photo credit: Pixplanete/PR Photos

Locked behind bars in Swiss apparently doesn't stop director Roman Polanski to put finishing touches on his upcoming movie "The Ghost". On Wednesday, October 14, screenwriter Robert Harris told The Times newspaper in London that the 76-year-old wanted to make sure the movie is completed in time for its Berlin Film Festival premiere in February 2010.

"He can make his wishes known from his cell. I don't think he can make phone calls, but he can communicate," Harris explained. "What people think of the film is another matter. Whether the film can rise above the circumstances in which the director now finds himself I don't know. We will test to the upper limits the notion that there's no such thing as bad publicity."

Polanski, according to Harris, had recently given instructions to composer Alexandre Desplat about the film score. "It is a nightmare looming that the director might be in jail at the time (of the film's release) but we will just have to cope with this as the situation develops," he added. "I'm sure he would want the film to go ahead, having worked on it for two years."

On September 26, Academy Award recipient Roman Polanski was arrested in Zurich in September while trying to enter Switzerland. The arrest stemmed from his 1978 U.S. arrest warrant for a charge of unlawful sex with a minor. In 1978, the director fled California in fear he would be sentenced to 50 years behind bars. His lawyers have said he will challenge extradition to the U.S., which could drag out an already complex process for years.

"The Ghost" is based on an adaptation of Harris' bestselling novel. It revolves around a ghostwriter who is hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister. Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor and Kim Cattrall star. The movie is scheduled for a February 2010 screening at the Berlin Film Festival. No official release date has been set just yet for the U.S. release.